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Originally Posted by perversity
I understand that the idea I proposed is far from flawless. I do beleive watermarking would hinder piracy, in much the same way as a locked door keeps a person honest.
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It has the same workaround as the previous iTunes device limit:
Burn the files to disc, then rip from the disc, which removes the metadata. A clever audio technician might have a way to bypass the physical disc, but the other's open to anyone. (And hey, side effect of producing a disc full of music you already have copies of, which can be handed off to whoever via sneakernet.)
Watermarking, like most DRM, only identifies, only *punishes*, those users who don't understand the technology they're using.
I don't exactly have ethical problems with punishments that are only aimed at the clueless and stupid, as a kind of Darwinian process of raising tech-awareness, but I suspect that that isn't actually the RIAA's goal.
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Something that most people tend to forget is that they don't actually OWN any of the digital content they use unless they CREATED it. You only own a lisence to use the product as the owner(s) sees fit.
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That's not quite true. You OWN the books you buy. You OWN the records. And legally, you OWN the digital files as well, even though their only existence is 1's and 0's on a disc somewhere. You have the right to manipulate and change them any way that strikes your fancy... just as, when I buy a book, I may read it, use it for kindling, or set it to prop up a table leg, and the author has no right to tell me otherwise.